1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic commerce method of performing electronic commerce (EC) with a client by a server by using a network, a recording medium in which an electronic commerce program has been stored, and a server. More particularly, the invention relates to an electronic commerce method whereby sales articles can be divided into information and goods and presented, a recording medium in which an electronic commerce program has been stored, and a server.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In recent years, a scale of market of electronic commerce has been largely increasing and there are a variety of articles (segments) in a range from an article of a low price such as groceries or the like to an article of a high price such as a real estate or the like. The articles which are actually being dealt with can be mainly classified into goods and information. A transaction of “goods” used here denotes a general transaction such that physical articles are delivered through distribution of books, CDs, and the like. A transaction of “information”, on the other hand, denotes a transaction such that information such as software or music distribution is delivered by being downloaded through the Internet. It should be noted here that the electronic commerce of each of “goods” and “information” is solely executed. When a transaction in the music world in Japan is actually considered as a specific example, it is known that such a transaction becomes as shown in FIG. 1. It will be summarized as follows.    (I) Goods such as CD and the like are purchased (sales of goods).    (II) Music piece data is downloaded to a terminal or the like of a personal computer (sales of information).    (III) Music piece data is copied to an MD or the like at a Kiosk terminal in a convenience store or the like (sales of information).    (IV) A jacket or a word card can be also printed out on the ground by electronic distribution by a dedicated terminal installed in a shop or the like (sales of information).
As mentioned above, any of the sales forms is a solo-transaction of “information” or “goods”.
Although the market of package articles by an over-the-counter sales or the like is stable, a business ratio in the electronic commerce is small and it is considered that the prospects for the remarkable increase in market scale in the future is not good in the present situation. For example, in the music distribution, it is presumed that a market scale of the electronic commerce will be equal to at most about 20% in the whole music market and the markets of a package and the others will occupy the major part (examination result of the Nikkei Net Business in 2000).